With the joys of having a pet, comes the responsibility of taking care of that pet and cleaning-up after the animal, particularly in public places. In urban areas and suburban neighborhoods animal excrement littering the streets, parks, and yards has become a serious problem. This animal excrement, particularly from dogs, creates an unpleasant and unhealthy living environment. Many jurisdictions now have laws and regulations which provide for fines for owners of dogs who do not clean up after the animal. At the same time, cleaning up canine feces can be quite an unpleasant chore. Any dog owner would likely agree that it would be nice if the dog excrement could politely make its way to the nearest trash receptacle on its own.
In fact, there are numerous prior art devices designed to collect canine excrement, including a few attempts to contain the excrement before it reaches the ground, thereby making cleanup simple, easy and hygienic (for example see U.S. Pub. No. 2008/0127909 to Albalas et. al). So far, however, these devices are not very practical and further are uncomfortable for the dog, causing the dog to resist their implementation (for example the Albalas application cited above requires the device be adhered to the dog's fur). What is needed is a simple device which can easily be placed on the animal, comfortably, without interfering with the dogs natural habits, and easily removed. A device that would be small, compact, light weight, easy to carry when not in use and providing for quick, easy and clean disposal of the excrement. At the same time, the device should be designed to catch all the excrement cleanly.